MIKE MENTZER: HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOU SHOULD TRAIN AGAIN?  

This is not an advice This is pure gold

I can tell I’m ready to train when I wake up that morning feeling energised, fresh and recovered which is usually 2-3 days. Some days I take an extra day just to be sure growth has occurred and it’s working amazingly well!

I started lifting when I was 19. I always hear people say they train 6 days a week so that's what I did and I was always in pain. And then I hear that you have to work out with the pain. No pain no gain. When I was 33 I tore my forearm muscle doing heavy deadlifts and took about 14 months to recover. When I started again I did just 3 days a week. My gains and strength levels went through the roof. That's when I realised the human body needs a lot of rest to recover and is not a 'machine' unless you're on gear.....

I was introduced to Mike Mentzer in 1992 by a mutual friend and had many interesting conversations with him. Not just about weight training, but a whole lot of interesting topics. Mike was, in my estimation, a genius, and one of the most humble and kind individuals I've ever met.

Very very true. Once I started taking two days off, so one full rest day and the other some moderate cardio before my next weightlifting day, I feel and look so much better

Mike was one of the most intelligent bodybuiders ever.

this is great stuff... i cant believe it took me so long to understand the concept of overtraining ... the problems with my joints and tendons are gone now for years with more muscle growth in my late 30s early 40s than in my peak years of my 20s and early 30s

I have never felt this good and strong before.

Overtrained for 40 years before I figured this out. Had a bad combination of giving an all out effort while recuperating very slowly. As a result I would also get sick often as overtraining weakened my immune system. Now I do just 1 warmup set followed by 2 heavy sets and do only 4 exercises per session for a total of no more than 8 heavy sets every workout. And I only work out twice a week. A sharp contrast to when I used to do 2 1/2 hour workouts, 6 days a week.

This is wonderful information as Mike explains it here. I took three days off this time instead of two days off. Like he said. Recover. Come back stronger. It is true. Thank you for sharing this information with us

What you have to realize is that everyday is endocrine system and adrenal day along with all the other organs in the body when you perform high intensity training as it has a systemic effect on the entire body. The formula for high intensity is exactly the same for everyone, the only variable is one's tolerance to that imposed stress. Once muscle growth is stimulated any further stimulation will dig a deeper inroad into one's recovery resulting in overtraining and stagnated growth and possible injury to the body. This is the reason why you see people in the gym who seem to never improve, they mindlessly do the exact same workout over and over day after day thinking they need more frequency and more volume when just the opposite is true. The only time more is better with respect to resistance training applies only to the intensity of effort not the volume of sets and frequency of workouts.

I discovered this through trial and error. Was forcing myself to stick to a PPL split, training every other day and felt bad when I took a 2nd day off. Later on I just said fk it and took even 3 days of rest at some points but felt great when hitting the gym again. Consistently put 5kg on every lift every week, just by resting enough.

I definitely learned a lot tonight. Thank you for both for the wisdom and this channel. Thank you so much

At 56 I'm finally gaining the muscle I never could in my long past. Mike Mentzers method is what got me going. Its simple really. Train to failure, in good form, always increasing the weight, IF ready, with proper rest in between. I think diet has to be tailored a bit to each person and get plenty of sleep/rest. When I married my wife i weighed just 130 pounds when I was 34 years old. Now I weigh 170 and at 5'8 that is actually a decent amount of muscle if you have a flat stomach as I do. The best part is being muscular at 56 while most men have pretty much let themselves go. My wife loves it. She is my driving force. She gropes my pecs all the time where once... there was nothing. IAM on testosterone therapy treatment I should add and have been since 2005. However even on TRT I was unable to get any real gains. Guess i just could not put it all together what I needed to do. I'll always be grateful for stumbling on Mike Mentors youtube videos. Rest in Peace Mike !

We've all heard not to train the same muscles without two or even three days rest between sessions but I have not ever before heard that 𝘢𝘯𝘺 training of 𝘢𝘯𝘺 muscles in-between this rest period can be detrimental to muscle growth. Hmmm, I'm gonna try this myself

This is exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you!

I was making pretty good progress working out every other or 2 days, when I began resting 4-7 days it was like beginner gains all over again. Fascinating

Great idea on rebranding the channel, John. I hope this blows up in popularity, it would be well deserved. Good luck!

I’m 20 and this just blew the roof off my lid

Thank you for the videos, John! You are such a loyal friend of Mike!

Very helpful in sight.

I love working out, and I love learning more too

It's definitely knowing your body and knowing where your intensity levels were at from your prior session.

He actually makes sense when you think about it!

I needed to hear this because I was wearing my body out overtraining on consecutive days.

A lot of people think just because you train a different muscle or group of muscles the next day that it won't take away from the previous workout. But your body now needs to take longer to recover from both workouts. The more this goes on the faster you will overtrain, and most people do what's called a "deload" period. That doesn't really help because you're still forcing your body to recover from that light workout as well. I think there are a lot of ways to build muscle of course, at the end of thw day do what makes you feel the best and whatever gets you closer to your goals. Keep an opened mind on each training philosophy because you might peice together your own unique way.

Skipping rest days now days became like skipping leg days before

Followed his style for months now, and all I can say is, it works. That “one all out set” really helped me to be stronger and leaner, but don’t forget to stretch and warm up. For everyone looking for a change, give it a go.

This also applies to cardio as well people. Too many people are out here doint cardio everyday. Its completely uneccesary. One weekly session of high intensity cardio is all you need to make cardiovascular progress. You have people doing 3 HIIT sessions a week and wonder why they are burning out. One HIIT session is all you need.

I’m going to try this approach

I wish i heard this 20 years ago Im 37 now with lots of injuries n now when i reduced training i gain more and feel fresh

“You gotta be careful with this stuff” That hit hard!

Man, I wish I was open to this years ago!

No modern camera can capture that iconic sweaty gloss seen in the 70s and 80s; that alone is art. I've powerlifted for 15+ years but my respect for bodybuilding grows daily and I've used many bodybuilding movements in my lifts the last few years. I love food and good beer so I will never achieve "the look" even when I dieted down and got lean (240lbs; I usually sit around 285-300.) Never forget the legends like Mike.

Thank you for sharing

Invaluable stuff.

Brilliant guy.

Kudos for the disclaimer about photographers at the beginning, they are real MVPs that nobody remember.

I have problems with black & white thinking and taking things to extremes. I am so happy to have found the Mentzer's material on this channel! I had never heard of H.I.T. before and all this makes so much more sense then whooping my own ass everyday never making progress and always quitting due to soreness and etc. etc. Did my first H.I.T. w/o this morning and am excited for what the future holds! I'm being very cautious as to not overtrain, starting with "sensible" weights and seeing where to go from there. Kudos to you and the other guy that posts these!

I've been working out for 25 years and I can confirm this sounds 100% correct.

John, if you could make a playlist or a timeline of his videos that show his change in theories on heavy duty. I pretty much know what his thoughts were towards the end but it's just interesting because in this video he says how he realizes how heavy duty is much more intense than what he originally thought it out to be as in when he compares it to his sunlight on someone's skin

I'm back to training push, pull, legs on a 3 day a week program. Monday-pull, Wed or Thurs-push, & Saturday-legs. Training each bodypart only once a week making great progress!

MM sounds brilliant.

Hello John Little, I have discovered Mike Mentzer a few weeks ago and I must thank you for all the inspirational content. Just so you know how much impact you have, you have inspired a 20 year old from Germany :)

i think mike is on to something here. i used to be a 5-6 day a week guy. i cut down to 3-4 and it seems like im growin way faster and i have really good pumps more often

Definitely i am going to try this from tomorrow ... being on pain all week it just stupid

I trained all body groups in a 3 day period each week, and I wouldnt be able to walk without pain for at 2 to 3 days after leg day. I went from 160lbs at 6'1 to about 205 in the span of 3 years with a 34" in waist. The recovery was instinctual, but three no-nonsense workouts were done each week. I didnt take drugs, but did consume a high protein, medium carb, low fat, and vitamin mineral and amino acid supplements.

I been training every 3 days and I feel so good to train again and if I still don’t feel right I’ll take another day and go then the system works and I been seeing very big changes in my body and mind doing this

John, I've come across your channel in the past few weeks and just got done reading "High Intensity Training" and I started resting three days between workouts. And guess what's happening? I can literally feel myself grow on the off days! It's weird, but feels great. And, my workouts are much better with three days rest. When i workout, i feel like I'm to war. I love the new mindset. Whereas, when i worked out 5 days a week, it felt like a job most times! I'm sure i will eventually move to once every four days, 5,6 days until i hit once every week or so. Once that happens, i will read an Ayn Rand book! Which one would Mentzer recommend first? 😅

i would say overtraining (by overlapping) is mostly caused by too many sets in one workout. if you do 3 sets of chest, you might be ready in 2 days, if you do 6 sets, you might need 3-4 days.

Concerning heavy duty or high intensity training, whichever designation you prefer: when one reaches 50 or more, I know from experience that "more is better" when it comes to rest days.

I never forget the time I was going hard almost every day straight and then ended up resting for almost a week due to having a very busy week. When I got back i was increasing weight to almost every exercise with every muscle group atleast by 20lbs ..it was amazing. Im trying to stick with doing that regualry but the mental part of losing gains keeps causing me not to rest like that again since I rested cause I had no choice but funny noticed the dramatic change in strength when I did it. What sucks is since Ive been going on that almost everyday streak again ..I noticed I couldnt increase weight that much on a regular basis. Its a mind fk issue I have to get out of losing gains when rest like that every now again will give you the gains youre looking for

Those "days off" for me are active recovery days. HIT training is definitely no more than a three day a week thing. Nowadays we have more information at our disposal but his methods are definitely foundational to my workout style. Getting more out of less and going for more sustainable body building

72 hours is spot on for most people.

Yeah good luck on this rebranded channel my friend from me,Bucky 👍

LIKE EVERY ALL GENIUS ... HE GONE VER EARLY !!!. MIKE MENTZER WAS IS AND WILL BE ... A SPECIAL BODYBUILDER !!!!. A DIFFERENT !!! AND DESPITE EVERYTHINGS ... A PRIVILEGED BRAIN !!!!. 🏆🏅🏅

i'd felt instinctively this was the case but didn't like to let down training partners by not training several times a week.

Mentzer is great

I really enjoy listening to these views and how much it has changed my viewpoint on how and when to train. Even though mike has passed in its refreshing to hear challenges against the status quo

I do push-pull-legs-rest with high intensity and it seems to work very well. Think I enjoy the gym too much to only go 1-2 times a week lol

In 84, as a young 13 ywar old boy working 3:30 ata Tae Kwon Do school that got the 12 Natilus machines. I was absorbed into the books & recording that the company put out, & Mike taught on many of the videos.

When you stop hurting 💪

My body surprisingly recovers within 2 days and then I go back and sometimes when I go all out intensity it's usually 3 days

Age 58 here, this is the cycle I use. Each workout is done once every 7-10 days. One set per exercise. All sets taken until failure and sometimes beyond. All reps done slowly under control, no jerking or whatever WORKOUT A: belt squats (1 set), lat pullups (1 set), dumbbell* pullovers (1 set) (wait 7-10 days) WORKOUT B: belt squats (1 set), parallel bar dips (1 set) (wait 7-10 days) WORKOUT C: parallel bar dips (1 set), lat pullups (1 set), bent-over rows (1 set) (wait 7-10 days) WORKOUT A again...... -- Parallel bar dips are done either with bodyweight or by adding 100 lbs extra weight. -- Lat pullups done with bodyweight only. -- Belt squats done with 200 lbs (failure at 15-20 reps, depends on rep speed... which is always slow but some days slower than others. -- Bent over rows done with 200 lbs (see below) using a triangle bar for gripping -- All exercises done alone in a crude home gym. * No barbells, plates or dumbbells. My "plates" are old auto tire rotors that are bolted together and weigh between 70 and 100 lbs. The 200 pounder is 4 rotors bolted together. Think crude, archaic, fred flintstone, redneck.... and you got it. But weight is weight, 100 pounds of chrome plated steel weighs the same as 100 lbs of goose down. Many thanks to John Little for his work here on RU-vid.

I tried to do one of these workouts just with bodyweight and a little bit of isometric contraction which I know he did because isometric and concentric are stronger than eccentric contraction. Honestly it's been a whole day, I don't feel "sore" but I have never had this mind muscle connection feeling where I feel like I have a pump in the muscle or whatever still but only to my nervous system

What I don't understand is if I do his 4 day split and he says wait 3 days before working out again, does he mean that specific body part or wait 3 days to workout the next body part? If the latter is the case, I'm only going to be working a specific body part every 12 days??

Bill Phillips.......man, don't hear about him much anymore but Body for Life was huge in its day

Bill Phillips and Mike Mentzer !? Wow.

how much gap should i consider after traning one body part for another part?

, can you or anyone answer this, if I train chest and back Monday how I’ll now when the growth process has completed, I can assume that the recovery process has completed when I am no longer sore, but what about the growth? How many days after the recovery/im no longer sore does it take for the growth to complete Or is the growing taking place during the recovery

Always made best gains hitting each muscle no more than once per week

right now i lift twice a week, tuesday and thursday - because i'm in the office from tuesday to thursday. (gym is in the office) you guys think that is enough? i usually to compound exercises - squat, deadlifts, pulldowns, facepulls.

I've been using heavy duty for 15 years, I train grapes once every 12 to 15 days. It's been working for me for years

WISDOM

For about 8 months I did the Body by Science Big 5 once a week. Recently I was noticing I was absolutely wiped the rest of that day and the next. I cut back to doing Upper one week, Lower the next. I feel better, I go harder when I do workout, and I'm noticing more strength gains. This whole thing is wild. I'm also 53, being an old man is certainly a factor. HIT/Heavy Duty, whatever we call it, has by far been the most effective system I've ever done.

Mike recommended: Monday: chest and back Tuesday: off Wednesday: off Thursday: shoulders and arms Friday: off Saturday: off Sunday: legs How would he recommend incorporating core workouts and cardio?

So I used to lift weights and it would make harder to deal with heavy things at work. But when I switched 100% calisthenics, it made everything else at work easier to deal with. How ironic. I’m perfecting my total body calisthenics workout program for myself. And I have found that balance is key. You need to be equally strong in all areas of the body so that your body can perform its best complimenting each others’ muscle groups. It’s like what Mr. Miyagi says. So true. And for my legs I only jog stairs and my legs have never been stronger. I train for endurance. It’s a balance of all in one. And… I’m gonna implement Mike Mentzer’s knowledge of how much to train and how much to recover into my own lil personal program, bruh I’m bout to be the next Krillin atleast

Great video sir, one question tho, how many (working) sets per muscle group are we talking about here? Per training

The problem with our society today is we tend to champion hardwork and demonize rest/sleep Not only in sports but also in our work and studies.

Very hard to retrain your brain and get your head around but the penny FULLY just dropped when I translated in terms of boxing as I'm sat here itching to train 24 hrs later.. If I put my body through a war of a fight.. no way would I think to box again for another 2 months, 24 hours is unthinkable!

Hello what is your opinion on a full body one set workout? For example the following for 3 days a week with a rest day in between • Compound Leg Exercise (e.g., Squats or Leg Press) • Compound Chest Exercise (e.g., Bench Press or Dumbbell Press) • Compound Back Exercise (e.g., Barbell Rows or Lat Pulldowns) • Compound Shoulder Exercise (e.g., Military Press or Dumbbell Shoulder Press) • Isolation Bicep Exercise (e.g., Barbell Curls or Dumbbell Curls) • Isolation Tricep Exercise (e.g., Tricep Pushdowns or Close-Grip Bench Press) • Abdominal Exercise (e.g., Plank or Hanging Leg Raises)

Just subscribed notifications bell on!!!

Does anyone know if you can also cut and do this? Because i've heard that the body might eat the muscle if i am on a calorie deficit, do i have to always be on maintenance?

I wonder how long the duration of the workout should be?

Oh man. I always thought I was lazy, but turns out I was just smart.

Can you imagine....these were on record for over 40 years and we were blinded by the Arnold's and Ronnies...a s s holes

John is there any interviews with Bill Phillips as far as his take on the High Intensity Training?

I find doing legs first then back ,chest , triceps and finishing with biceps and hit all to failure. Than i rest 6-8 days then hit hard all over agian .

I'm confused, is he saying only train each muscle group once a week basically?

Would have loved to see a convo between MIKE and PEANA?

Results are what count. Unless you stimulate growth, waiting longer won't help, and over-training will necessitate longer recovery but without steroids won't facilitate progress. These comments about 'feelings' are dismissed by Mike in other contexts. You have to change the training protocol according to your intensity need, to achieve consistency, not be governed by how you feel. Most people's body clock works on a circadian rhythm of around 24.2 hours; this should be the basis for recovery and growth. The more times one can complete the stimulation, recover, growth cycle, the faster progress will be.

Honestly throughout my years of lifting bro splits have given me the best results.

John could you let me know what is the 2nd leg workout looking like in the 4 way workout split? accordingly to heavy duty 2? workout 1: check & back workout 2: legs (leg extensions, leg press, leg curls, calf raises) workout 3: delts & arms workout 4: legs ( ? )

Currently on this 1. chest/back 2. Shoulders/arms 3. Legs HIT program every 78hours. I already started to see results after the second training of chest/back. I am Leaner although I’m not doing any cardio training and my chest grew already. The most difficult part is that your train one muscle group only every 9 days right? (Monday and then Wednesday of week after for chest/back). One of the question I ask myself is can we get results on the muscle group if we train it only every 9 days? As I told you, it seems to be working, but needs to be confirmed in the next weeks.

If I want to focus on building my legs, would it be possible to build legs twice a week and then have 1 day where I put in chest, arms, back and shoulders? Or would that be too much? My main concern is how to deal the the systemic fatigue, I learnt from Mike Mentzer that if you feel tired it still isn't a good idea to workout a muscle even if it is fully recovered from the previous time it was stimulated. So I'd like to do legs more often, but I don't know how to tell if I'm overdoing it just generally on the system. I was thinking I could do legs every 4 days, but go easier on the first one and do chest, arms, back and shoulders on that same day but hard, and then go really hard on the legs again 4 days later but without chest, arms, back and shoulders. That way I have 8 days for the upperbody to recover and the first load on the legs might have had a chance to recover by the second intense load on the legs comes about. And then because the second load on the legs has less to deal with systemically it might be able to recover fully come the fully body workout day comes again. The other option I was looking at is to train legs once every 7 days, and train upperbody once every 7 days but either 3/4 days after the leg day depending on energy levels. I will also not train upperbody to complete failure so that more resources go to building the legs. Can anyone recommend what is best? I'm extreme ectomorph body type if that has any influence on what I should be doing? I just don't know if that will be enough though to build muscle quickly.

John Little has a line in Body By Science and it goes something like, “The disinclination to train hard is the first sign of overtraining.” That really resonated with me. If I’m not totally motivated/excited to go to the gym and work out to failure with super slow protocol in reasonably strict form, then I need more rest. I typically do 4-5 days between workouts, some variation of big 5 (with some isolation exercises like curls, because let’s face it, gotta do barbell curls!!)

And all we heard back in the day was Arnold.This guy perspective on bodybuilding is very interesting compared to arnold's training twice a day.

Question: Can we do a single body part workout plan every day using the same volume (HIT) that Mike is saying, will it work out?

Do you recommend HIT for a teen as they can have they ability to recover faster because of hormones.

it's hard because a week has 7 days, not 9 or 6. so ya gotta choice 2 days a week or 3, or just every three days no matter what day it is and have no synergy with the rest of the world.